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Angelfall, by Susan Ee

What I’d Pay: $14

This was much more intense and dark than I was expecting – and so amazingly good!

I wasn’t expecting this book to be as intense as it was, even though it is about warrior angels destroying the world, because I’ve read other YA books about angels that were much more focused on romance (i.e. Hidden Wings, Fallen). I just wasn’t expecting this one to be so different and therefore so much better – it was a wonderful surprise. The main character has a very rough life: not only is it apparently the end of the world with dangerous, avenging angels flying around, but she also needs to take care of her wheelchair-bound younger sister and mentally unstable mother. Right off the bat her sister is abducted by angels and her mother takes off, leaving the main character on her own. To try and get her sister back, she makes a deal with an injured angel to take her back to the angel base where her sister is (hopefully) being held. Most of the book revolves around their struggles throughout a world gone totally crazy and their growth together as friends. There is a slow connection that grows between the two main characters, both of which are great characters, that sets up a little romance. But for the most part the book focuses on them overcoming their own prejudices and working together to survive. About three quarters of the way through the book, things get totally creep-tastic. There were some terrifying shadow creatures, creepy experimentation on humans, and disturbing chimera creatures. The ending has a serious cliffhanger, but the second book is already out (World After) so I immediately picked it up.

Bottomline: This book is extremely exciting and well-written, with some really creepy elements and good characters. It far surpassed my expectations for a YA angel-themed book. In fact, if you’ve read any of those books before and didn’t like them because there was way too much mushy-gushy teen romance, then you should definitely try this one; it’s the grown up, darker, more fully realized version of an angel-themed YA book. This is one of my favorite reads from this year so far and I definitely recommend it. I got it on Kindle for $4 and would’ve been happy paying much more.